Taxes And The Recession

I am amazed that as much as the Republicans say they worry about our growing deficit, they still want to extend all of the Bush tax cuts. Somehow they have convinced many Americans that not extending these tax cuts will not hurt the deficit, but will hurt business -- especially small businesses. This is such a lie.

The truth is that the Obama/Democrats plan to extend only part of the tax cuts will affect only the richest 5% of Americans. The cuts will be retained for 95% of Americans, and the Democratic plan will not affect that 95% at all. Even among the 5%, the bulk of the restored taxes will be paid by only 1% of Americans -- all of them making over a million dollars a year. Take a look at this article (with accompanying easy to read charts) by the Tax Policy Center for the truth.

The people affected by the Democratic plan already have plenty of money. If they wanted to use that money to spur job growth, they could already do it -- but they aren't. Extending the cuts won't create any new jobs. It will just go into bank accounts of the rich and do nothing for the economy except increase the deficit -- by at least $680 billion over the next 10 years. How can the Republicans possibly justify making the rich even richer when they tell us we don't have enough money to stimulate the creation of new jobs.

And these taxes will not hurt small businesses. Only 3% to a maximum of 6% of small businesses will be affected at all, and only those making over $1 million (in profit) will be significantly (and then only to the tune of about $11,000 -- a tiny fraction of that million dollar or more profit).

But the Republicans don't really care about small businesses. If they did they wouldn't have blocked the Democratic bill that would actually provide over $12 billion in tax cuts for small businesses and create a $30 billion program for low interest loans for small businesses (both of which were supported by conservative groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Federation of Business).

They just tell that lie about small business being hurt because they know if Americans knew the truth they wouldn't like it -- the truth that the only people the Republican plan would help are the filthy rich.

Frankly, the Republican plan to extend the tax cuts for the richest Americans would also extend something else -- the recession (and it would increase the deficit). The only way out of this recession is through job growth -- especially among small business. But the Republican plan wouldn't do that.

That's why they keep screaming about socialism and muslims and birth certificates. They want to keep the people's mind off the real issue -- working our way out of this recession. While the Democrats aren't doing enough to combat the recession (in my opinion), the Republican plan would be disastrous for ordinary Americans.

It is time for Americans to wake up and realize there is only one issue this year, and that is how to get out of this recession. Don't let the Republicans fool you into thinking that giving the rich even more money will do that.